Hensoldt Airborne Surveillance Radar Ordered by CAE Aviation

Sensor solutions specialist HENSOLDT will supply its new airborne multi-mission surveillance radar PrecISR to one of the biggest airborne surveillance providers, CAE-Aviation, Luxembourg. HENSOLDT was awarded a contract to deliver one PrecISR™1000 until year-end to CAE Aviation for installation underneath a King Air Beechcraft B350 aircraft for an undisclosed customer. The contract was signed after PrecISR had proven impressive SAR/MTI capabilities during successful flight demonstrations in real land and maritime scenarios. In this context, CAE-Aviation and HENSOLDT recently participated jointly in the OCEAN 2020 maritime surveillance exercise in Sweden with the PrecISR radar installed on CAE-Aviation´s aircraft.

Ocean2020 (Open Cooperation for European mAritime awareNess), funded by the European Union's Preparatory Action on Defence Research and implemented by the European Defence Agency, had the main objective to demonstrate enhanced situational awareness in a maritime environment through the integration of legacy and new technologies for unmanned systems, ISTAR payloads and effectors, by covering the “observing, orienting, deciding and acting” operational tasks. The team involving 43 entities was drawn from 15 countries across Europe. These activities culminated in demonstrations in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas contributing to the EU´s ability to lead innovation in support of Europe´s strategic autonomy in the maritime domain.

At the same time, HENSOLDT and CAE Aviation agreed upon a strategic partnership. They signed an agreement aiming at joint development of customer specific capabilities, training and maintenance and marketing of the PrecISR product.

PrecISR translates latest achievements in active array and digital receiver technology into a scalable high-performance sensor which can be installed aboard helicopters, UAVs and fixed-wing mission aircraft. Due to its software-defined radar modes and electronic beam steering, PrecISR can fulfil different tasks virtually at the same time. It is able to detect, track and classify thousands of objects and thus literally find the ‘needle in a haystack’. Because of its compact design and the fact that all parts are located outside of the airframe, the airborne platform integration of PrecISR is simplified significantly compared to other radars. Its superior precision and target accuracy make it the sensor of choice for surveillance of large sea and coastal areas against piracy, trafficking or illicit intrusion.